Sentinels of Jandar

[Hahma]

I played HS tonight with my nephew. I drafted the Sentinels (which I had never used before and wanted to give a shot with) amongst others, but they really dropped the ball against Charos. Not that I was trying to attack Charos with them but simply lure my nephew into engaging them and buying me some time to skirt around the elevation with my Nakitas and take out Ne-Gok-Sa, who just happened to be sitting on a def+2 glyph on a single rock hex in the middle of the water and directly under a bridge.

Well since I took out Su-Bak-Na and the Venoc Vipers early on, and my nephew wasn't going to move NGS off that glyph, all he had to do was put all his order markers on Charos and he could get my agents before they could take out NGS. So I had hoped that having Charos engaged with the Sentinels for a few turns would allow my Nakitas to do something about the +2 that Charos was benefitting from. I didn't even attack with the Sentinels, just wanted engagement to force Charos to have a 50% chance wounding w/o benefit of defense.

One turn, Charos engages Sentinels and rolls one skull, all I need is one freaking shield out of four. I get none. Dead Sentinel.

Another turn, Charos rolls two skulls, all I need is one shield and I roll blanks. Another dead Sentinel.

He disengages (taking a wound) to harrass Nakitas and keep them from getting close enough to NGS.

He re-engages last Sentinel and rolls three skulls. All I need is two and I roll one. Third one bites the dust on only three attacks and all I had to roll was one, one and two shields.

I figured they'd last longer than that, long enough to buy my agents some time. But alas no, it wasn't meant to be.

Has anyone found the Sentinels to do really well for them, really bad for them or are they like Khumoset and are relegated to worthless pieces of plastic and aren't even considered for drafting?

[Mystyc]

I've found the Sentinels to be really potent. Sure, you can get unlucky, but they're usually pretty hard to bring down. They're a little expensive, but worth it. Give them another chance! (A pretty good 400-point army featuring the Sentinels is: 2 squads Sentinels, Raelin, Krav Maga Agents.)

Edit: Just to provide counterpoint to the post below me, I have had them without Raelin as well (actually, I did have Raelin, but she got Mitonsouled very early), and they've been very, very durable. Like any defense-heavy unit, they are somewhat luck-reliant, but less so than, say, a Deathwalker.

[Riggler]

They are hard for me to justify drafting unless:

1) I need a flying squad

or

2) I have Raelin in the army backing them up. Even then I rarely do. Reason No. 1 is the primary reason.

[Hahma]

Originally Posted by Riggler

They are hard for me to justify drafting unless:

1) I need a flying squad

or

2) I have Raelin in the army backing them up. Even then I rarely do. Reason No. 1 is the primary reason.

I needed a flying squad and thought their defensive abilities would have made it worth it.

Next time it's Q9 when I see my nephew draft Charos, assuming I have 180 pts to draft left

[Jason]

The sentinels are amazing. Add Raelin to them and they average 4 shields per roll

[Jason]

Minions are a GREAT Charos counter, so are McDirks

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

When I first bought wave 3 and drafted them, they were tanks! They seem to take a beating and shrug it off. Of course they have the unfortunate position of having an ability based on those defense dice -regardless if they have four dice to roll, they're eventually going to roll lousy.

I'm okay with this. It's their darned 3 attack that makes them the inferiors to the Minions. I mean, I if I take the Sentinels (or even Minions), my opponent almost always takes the Marrden Hounds. It's impossible to save a Sentinel from a successful plague roll, but if the roll is unlucky, they have to deal 3 attack dice against 5 defense and the hounds have the potential to get the highest ground with that high movement.

I like the sentinels a lot, it's their limited attack and counterdraft of Marrden Hounds that makes me queasy.

[Hahma]

Originally Posted by Jason

The sentinels are amazing. Add Raelin to them and they average 4 shields per roll

I was thinking about Raelin, but noooooooooooooooooooooo, I wanted to see what the Kozuke's would do since this was my first time playing since I got wave five. Well after Su-Bak-Na and Venom Vipers were gone, the Samuri weren't so good to go against Charos who always seemed to have height and that darned +2 defense bonus.

I drafted more to see what some of the new figs (Kozuke's and Nakitas) would do. Should have used my head and taken Raelin. Oh well, next time maybe, unless I want to try out the Deathstalkers.

Doh! So many figs, so few to draft. I want them all, darn it!

[Riggler]

These Sentinals I think have definately seen some power creep adversely impact them. As figures come out with higher (or potential for higher) attack dice, any unit based on defense dice advantage is lessened simply because there are only 2 shields on a dice.

While your example was with Charos, I think the Sentinals have certianly lost some of their "special" appeal with the likes of the newer heavy hitters.

[Jason]

The only "heavy hitter" that really gives the sentinels is problem is Braxas sicne she can bypass defense

[Tiberius]

I agree with Jason, I have been up against sentinals that just would never die, rolling 2-3 sheilds per time. But I guess I play against the god of dice rolling or something or I am just that unlucky. I really like the sentinals and draft them quite often.

[Revdyer]

Originally Posted by Hahma

sitting on a def+2 glyph on a single rock hex in the middle of the water and directly under a bridge.

No one else has mentioned this, but that def+2 glyph has to carry part of the blame for the poor Sentinel performance. In my view that glyph is really the only 'broken' part of the game. It just provides too much imbalance once it is taken and held.